Trippin'

Cajazeiras

    I went to Cajazeiras this past weekend to teach a class on God's plan of salvation.  The church is small in number and growing both spiritually and numerically.  The class started Friday night; it went on Saturday afternoon and night and ended with a class Sunday morning before the church meeting.  I also interviewed Café, Leila, 4 girls and 3 boys from the Right Step program, the main evangelistic thrust in the city. This program helps underprivileged families with their children in school, on the soccer field, in their homes, and most importantly in their personal lives.
    Please pray for Café, Leila, and their four daughters. They are the only family working full-time with this program and are feeling the weight of visiting and caring for 93 boys, girls, and their families.  Please pray that God may send another couple to this city to help His Kingdom grow in and around Cajazeiras.
    On a side note, we read 2 chapters of Ruth while on our 7-hour trip, studying for the Bible Cup in João Pessoa.  It is good for all of us to have time and an incentive to study God's Word.  Here is a picture of Nicholas, my son, reading while on the road.


Cubati
    On our way back from Cajazeiras, we stopped in Cubati to visit Afonso and Vânia.  The church in this city has only 4 members. Afonso and Vânia pray for God to bring more to Christ as they visit others and show faithfulness to God. Growth is coming slowly but surely.  There were 10 at the Sunday church meeting, not including my family.  Afonso is a man of perseverance and wisdom, and he is always seeking to grow in his knowledge of the Word to live, teach, and to know God better.
    Please pray for Afonso and Vânia, that Christ's love through them will reach this city of over 6,000 inhabitants.

Little Lake

     It was a hot autumn day, just before Easter - remember we are in the southern hemisphere - when we set out towards Alagoinha (Little Lake).  This is one of the last cities in the state that I, myself, would have picked to preach the Gospel but God, as always, sees beyond our limited vision.
    In the year 2000, I studied the Bible with a man whose wife had family in Alagoinha, and he insisted that I go visit them and tell them about God.  I eventually went and, to make a long story short, the church began in this small, out-of-the-way town. Unfortunately, the man who insisted so much on others hearing the Word of God was killed in a car wreck.  I buried him, and I miss him.  He himself never became a follower of Christ, but two members of the family that he took me to visit did and so did others in the town.
   

     The church now meets in a rented house three or four times a week.  Many of those that began their walk with Christ in Alagoinha have fallen back into the world.  Those that remain are fighting to be faithful to our Lord, sharing our Savior's love with those around them.  Alagoinha is a town that has many denominations so evangelism has been a little slow for these Christians on their own. 
    I was invited to go visit and study with some who were thinking about being baptized.  I packed up the family and we went.  I studied with José Humberto, a 39 year old father of two.  He had been evangelizing even before he became a Christian.  His wife, his sister, her live-in boyfriend, and José's mother all want to know more about what it means to be a Christian and how they too can be saved.
 

   The church in Alagoinha now has five Christians.  Five souls, so far, that will not see the fire pit of Hell.  I would not have chosen Alagoinha to go preach, right now, because of its size and where it is located.  I am glad, though, that God not only chose this city but also allowed me to be used by Him to take the Gospel there.
    Please pray for the church in Alagoinha.  Please pray that they continue strong in their faith.  Please pray that they might grow in the knowledge of God's Word.  Please pray that they will live and share with others what they have learned from their walk with God.